Town approved for development grant funds

In October, Fire Chief Thomas Ruchala learned the town had been approved for a development grant of $941,000 to upgrade town radios and further pursue regional dispatch.

A large part of the money - $773,000 - is reserved for the radio upgrade, Ruchala said.

“We have a consultant and other people who are trying to get the work done to get this radio system in place,” he said.

The high band radio system will be made up of base and mobile stations, with redundant systems in place so there’s no chance of a system failure.

“Basically, we’re going to get better transmission and receive coverage over a wider area,” Ruchala said.

That coverage is crucial to town safety and to the effectiveness of the regional dispatch system that the town has in place with Oakham and Hubbardston, and a relief to safety personnel who have been grappling with radio problems for a few years.

The remaining money in the grant will be used to enlarge the town’s regional dispatch.

“We’ve identified different concerns that different towns have,” Ruchala said, adding that he has received letters of interest from seven towns in the area.

Worcester is also developing a regional dispatch and some of the towns who have expressed interest in joining with Rutland have shown interest in the city’s plan, too.

“The key thing with us is that we’re already up and running as a regional dispatch center. We can take towns on in fairly short order,” Ruchala said.

Ruchala also thinks that many towns will be attracted to regionalizing with other, similarsized towns rather than a city.

When the grant was announced, the board of selectmen congratulated Ruchala on obtaining the grant.